The Tuesday night battle between NXT and AEW displayed a clear winner as NXT featured multiple main roster stars on its second episode on CW.
The October 8 edition of NXT on CW, which aired from 8 – 10 p.m. ET with one hour going head-to-head with AEW, averaged 874,000 viewers and 322,000 (0.24) in the 18-49 demographic, reported by PW Torch and Programming Insider.
NXT ranked seventh on broadcast in the core demo on Tuesday and ninth among all programming including cable. The show dropped by 2% in its overall viewership from last week’s debut on CW and fell by 10% in the 18-49 demographic.
Both shows aired against the NLDS game between the L.A. Dodgers and San Diego Padres, which was first in the demo with a 1.31 rating an averaged 4,647,000 viewers on FS1.
This week’s show featured main roster performers Randy Orton, Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair, A-Town Down Under, and Jey Uso either wrestling or appearing.
AEW moved outside of its regular night and time slot airing from 9 – 11 p.m. ET and posted its lowest numbers in history with 329,000 viewers and 128,000 (0.10) in the 18-49 demographic on TBS, per Wrestlenomics.
The change in night and time slot led to a 52% drop in the overall viewership, a 53% decrease in its 18-49 audience, a 72% decline in 18-34, and a 46% loss in the 35-49 demographic.
Wrestlenomics reports that Dynamite began with the first quarter averaging 450,000 viewers and 157,000 (0.12) in the demo featuring promos from Jon Moxley & Bryan Danielson and a segment involving Darby Allin with Brody King. The audience dropped by 35% in the second quarter and the 18-49 audience fell by 34%. The second largest quarter of the night was between 10:30 and 10:45 p.m. ET for Private Party’s interview with Stokely Hathaway and the in-ring segment involving Will Ospreay and Don Callis, which grew the audience by 9% and the demo audience by 26% from the prior quarter.
It is worth noting that NXT aired on a broadcast network while AEW is on cable, so there is a difference in reach.
NXT aired at 11 p.m. ET on Sportsnet 360 in Canada and averaged 49,000 viewers and 10,000 in the 25-54 demographic while Dynamite aired on TSN 2 and averaged 24,000 viewers and 5,000 in the demo.
Dana White’s Contender Series aired at 8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet 360 with 19,000 viewers and 4,000 in the 25-54 demo.
